Plasma-catalytic pyrolysis of polypropylene for hydrogen and carbon nanotubes: Understanding the influence of plasma on volatiles



Xiao, Haoyu, Li, Shujiang, Shi, Zhen, Cui, Cunhao, Xia, Sunwen, Chen, Yingquan, Zhou, Zhongyue, Tu, Xin ORCID: 0000-0002-6376-0897, Chen, Xu, Yang, Haiping
et al (show 1 more authors) (2023) Plasma-catalytic pyrolysis of polypropylene for hydrogen and carbon nanotubes: Understanding the influence of plasma on volatiles. APPLIED ENERGY, 351. p. 121848.

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Abstract

Plasma-catalytic pyrolysis was developed for upgrading polypropylene (PP) pyrolysis volatiles to co-produce carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and hydrogen. To uncover the role of plasma on the plastic catalytic pyrolysis process, the pyrolysis of polypropylene (PP) over Fe/γ-Al2O3 was carried out in a two-stage pyrolysis system with a coaxial dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) plasma reactor. The results showed that the plastic pyrolysis volatiles were further cleaved and activated with plasma, resulting in more active carbon species for the growth of CNTs. Compared to conventional catalytic pyrolysis, plasma addition shifted the initial formation temperature of CNTs to a lower ambient temperature by ∼100 °C, and significantly promoted the conversion of liquid and gaseous products to CNTs and hydrogen, with higher carbon and hydrogen yields of ∼322 mg/gplastic and 30 mmol/gplastic, respectively. In addition, the degree of graphitization of the CNTs in the presence of the plasma was significantly enhanced with less defectivity. The influence of catalytic temperature variation caused by plasma on CNTs growth was also discussed from the perspective of volatile evolution. This work highlights the potential of plasma-catalytic pyrolysis for the production of hydrogen and high-value carbon materials from plastic waste.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: Plastic, Pyrolysis, Plasma-catalysis, Hydrogen, Carbon nanotubes
Divisions: Faculty of Science and Engineering > School of Electrical Engineering, Electronics and Computer Science
Depositing User: Symplectic Admin
Date Deposited: 14 Sep 2023 10:11
Last Modified: 18 Oct 2023 22:15
DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.121848
Related URLs:
URI: https://livrepository.liverpool.ac.uk/id/eprint/3172749